Thomas Kirtley (20 February 1811 – 16 November 1847) was an English railway engineer, and was the locomotive superintendent of the

North Midland Railway The North Midland Railway was a British railway company, which opened its line from Derby to Rotherham (Masbrough) and Leeds in 1840. At Derby, it connected with the Birmingham and Derby Junction Railway and the Midland Counties Railway at wha ...

and later the

London, Brighton and South Coast Railway The London, Brighton and South Coast Railway (LB&SCR; known also as the Brighton line, the Brighton Railway or the Brighton) was a railway company in the United Kingdom from 1846 to 1922. Its territory formed a rough triangle, with London at its ...

Biography

He was born at Tanfield, County Durham, the son of a

colliery Coal mining is the process of extracting coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron from ...

owner, and elder brother of

Matthew Kirtley Matthew Kirtley (6 February 181324 May 1873) was born at Tanfield, Durham. He was an important early locomotive engineer. Career Early years At the age of thirteen he began work on the Stockton and Darlington Railway; he was fireman on the Liv ...

(b. 1813). Thomas began his career as an engine driver on the

Liverpool and Manchester Railway The Liverpool and Manchester Railway (L&MR) was the first inter-city railway in the world. It opened on 15 September 1830 between the Lancashire towns of Liverpool and Manchester in England. It was also the first railway to rely exclusively ...

with his brother. He founded the locomotive builder Thomas Kirtley and Co. of

Warrington Warrington () is a town and unparished area in the borough of the same name in the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England, on the banks of the River Mersey. It is east of Liverpool, and west of Manchester. The population in 2019 was estimat ...

in 1837, but this company failed in 1841. After briefly working for his brother on the

Warrington and Newton Railway The Warrington and Newton Railway was a short early railway linking Warrington to the Liverpool and Manchester Railway at Newton, and to pits at Haydock, nearby. It opened in 1831. The Grand Junction Railway aspired to make its long-distance rou ...

he was appointed locomotive superintendent of the

in 1843, but lost his role at the formation of the

Midland Railway The Midland Railway (MR) was a railway company in the United Kingdom from 1844. The Midland was one of the largest railway companies in Britain in the early 20th century, and the largest employer in Derby, where it had its headquarters. It am ...

in May 1844 and served as an inspector. In 1845 he worked for the

Trent Valley Railway The Trent Valley line is a railway line between Rugby and Stafford in England, forming part of the West Coast Main Line. It is named after the River Trent which it follows. The line was built to provide a direct route from London to North Wes ...

for

Thomas Brassey Thomas Brassey (7 November 18058 December 1870) was an English civil engineering contractor and manufacturer of building materials who was responsible for building much of the world's railways in the 19th century. By 1847, he had built about o ...

. In February 1847 he was appointed

Locomotive Superintendent Chief mechanical engineer and locomotive superintendent are titles applied by British, Australian, and New Zealand railway companies to the person ultimately responsible to the board of the company for the building and maintaining of the locomotive ...

of the

following the dismissal of John Gray, but nine months later he suffered a brain tumor and died.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kirtley, Thomas English engineers English railway mechanical engineers Locomotive builders and designers Locomotive superintendents London, Brighton and South Coast Railway people 1810 births 1847 deaths People from Tanfield, County Durham